Santosh Padhi launches new indie creative agency – Into Creative

"Many seniors are leaving the industry, and there are not enough creative leaders around to handhold brands and clients. I seriously want to give it a shot and do brave, cutting-edge, creative brand work; it may happen or it may not happen, but I will be happy that I took a shot at it and didn't give up when the industry needed it the most."

This is what Santosh Padhi told yours truly earlier this year after he ended his stint at Wieden+Kennedy India (W+K India) and was working on starting his new agency. That day has arrived.

Into Creative is his brainchild to fill the current vacuum in the industry. It will help brands find that Big Directional Idea — not a line that lives in communication, but a big bang of an idea that can penetrate deep into the brand universe. Which can only be delivered by a team that’s game to go deep into things that count for a brand.

The Big Directional Idea will be the guiding light for all possible brand requirements; from advertising campaigns to media properties to social content strategy to app design to tech-led innovations to in-game content to PR and so on and on. These kinds of ideas only come to life through deep collaboration. The team will work with a diverse range of thinkers, makers, creators, coders and partners who bring fresh perspectives and help push ideas further.

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Padhi will be the CCO and chairman while Ayesha Ghosh will be the CEO and co-founder along with four other co-founders. Yogesh Rijhwani will lead creative, Tania Dey Strategy and Digital, Namrata Gosavi will lead design and digital, and Gargi Vegiraju will be the business lead.

Also read: At 50, Santosh Padhi wants to disrupt advertising once again

They have worked on some of the biggest brands and have powerful work to their credit, such as for Jio 5G, Hero Vida EV, Hero Cycles, Jindal Steel, Jockey, and Zoya to name a few. The six of them worked together at W+K India, which closed its advertising service in India in December 2024. Yogesh, Gargi, Paddy and Ayesha have previously worked together at Taproot.

Padhi, said in a release: “I would have easily retired on an island but the calling from adland is loud and clear. This industry has given me everything and it is time for me to give back. Our focus will be on doing brave, fearless, creative brand work. Indian brands and platforms have grown in number, but creativity hasn’t. Oddly enough, brands are being built on creativity. Somewhere the passion of creative agencies to push boundaries has been lost. In a world where anything is now creatively possible, we are here to fill this vacuum.”

Ayesha Ghosh said: “More experiments happen when independent. Experiments often fail but every now and then give birth to a gloriously unexpected, triumphant discovery. We’re here for that. We see ourselves as multipliers. When one collaborates with high creative integrity, respecting every platform, that's when true magnification of ideas happens."

Into Creative will officially be launching in Mumbai on March 30, 2025, the day of Gudi Padwa/ Ugadi festival, which is celebrated as a new beginning in most parts of India, also the day when Lord Brahma created the universe.

It is in talks to close with a few clients. These will be announced subsequently.